Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
EVALUATING APPLICATION COMPATIBILITY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The following application claims priority to U.S. Patent
Application No.
13/540,045 entitled "EVALUATING APPLICATION COMPATIBILITY" filed on July 2,
2012, now U.S. Patent No. 9,189,220.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Many different types of mobile devices are available, from
smartphones with small display screens and limited feature sets to tablet
computers
with large display screens and extensive feature sets. Applications written
for one
type of mobile device may not be compatible with another type of mobile
device. As
an example, an application that takes photos may be incompatible with mobile
devices which lack cameras. As another example, an application may have a user
interface designed for a certain minimum display resolution and may be
incompatible
with mobile devices having a display resolution below the minimum.
SUMMARY
[0002a] In one embodiment there is provided a system, including at least
one
computing device and at least one application executable in the at least one
computing device. The at least one application causes the at least one
computing
device to at least determine a set of applications and filter the set of
applications to
1
CA 2878207 2017-07-04
exclude applications that are incompatible with a particular client. The
filtering
involves determining a capability set for the particular client, and obtaining
a
corresponding compatibility expression for each one of the set of
applications,
wherein the corresponding compatibility expression is a postfix expression
including
a plurality of terms. The filtering further involves sending a batch of
evaluation
requests to a compatibility evaluation service over a network, the
compatibility
evaluation service being configured to perform the evaluation, each of the
evaluation
requests specifying a corresponding identifier for a respective one of the set
of
applications and an identifier for the capability set, and performing an
evaluation of
the corresponding compatibility expression using the capability set to
determine
whether each one of the set of applications is compatible with the particular
client.
The evaluation of the corresponding capability expression includes for each
one of
the terms in the postfix expression: determining whether the one of the terms
is an
operator or an operand, pushing the operand onto the stack in response to
determining that the one of the terms is an operand, popping a number of
operands
from the stack in response to determining that the one of the terms is an
operator,
generating a result by applying the operator to the number of operands; and
pushing
the result onto the stack. The at least one application further causes the at
least one
computing device to at least return the set of applications that has been
filtered.
[0002b] The at least one application may further cause the at least one
computing device to generate a user interface that facilitates a purchase of
any of
the set of applications that has been filtered, the applications that are
incompatible
with the particular client being excluded from selection through the user
interface.
la
CA 2878207 2017-07-04
[0002c] The set of applications may correspond to a set of mobile
applications,
and the client may correspond to a mobile device.
[0002d] The at least one application may further cause the at least one
computing device to cache a plurality of responses to the batch of evaluation
requests obtained from the compatibility evaluation service by way of the
network
and utilize at least one of the responses that have been cached for another
evaluation in lieu of sending a request to the compatibility evaluation
service.
[0002e] The at least one application may further cause the at least one
computing device to obtain the capability set from the particular client,
determine
whether the capability set matches any stored capability set in a data store,
store the
capability set in the data store in response to determining that the
capability set does
not match any stored capability set in the data store, and associate an
identifier of
the capability set with the particular client.
[0002f] The at least one application may further cause the at least one
computing device to obtain a search query from a user, and the set of
applications
may be determined based at least in part on executing the search query.
[0002g] The evaluation may include substituting a respective constant from
the
capability set for each of a plurality of operand variables in each
corresponding
compatibility expression.
[0002h] The at least one application may further cause the at least one
computing device to: obtain a developer-provided application; automatically
determine a plurality of application requirements for the developer-provided
application; automatically generate the corresponding compatibility expression
for
lb
CA 2878207 2017-07-04
the developer-provided application based, at least in part, upon the plurality
of
application requirements; and store the corresponding compatibility expression
in
association with the developer-provided application.
[0002i] The corresponding compatibility expression may be automatically
generated based, at least in part, upon a plurality of business rules.
[0002j] The applications that are incompatible with the particular client
may be
excluded from being surfaced in the user interface.
[0002k] In another embodiment there is provided a method, involving
sending,
in a client computing device, a request for a list of applications to an
application
marketplace system, the request including a client identifier. The client
identifier is
associated with a set of client capabilities registered with the application
marketplace
system. The method further involves obtaining, in the client computing device,
the
list of applications from the application marketplace system and filtering, in
the client
computing device, the list of applications to exclude applications which are
incompatible with the set of client capabilities. The list of applications is
filtered by
sending a batch of evaluation requests to a compatibility evaluation service
over a
network, each of the evaluation requests specifying a corresponding identifier
for a
respective one of the list of applications. The compatibility evaluation
service is
configured to perform the evaluation by, for each one of a plurality of terms
in a
postfix expression: determining whether the one of the terms is an operator or
an
operand, pushing the operand onto a stack in response to determining that the
one
of the terms is an operand, popping a number of operands from the stack in
response to determining that the one of the terms is an operator, generating a
result
1 c
CA 2878207 2017-07-04
by applying the operator to the number of operands; and pushing the result
onto the
stack. The method further involves rendering, in the client computing device,
a user
interface configured to present the list of applications that has been
filtered.
[00021] The request may further include at least one mutable capability
characteristic of the client computing device.
[0002m] The method may further involve periodically discovering, in the
client
computing device, the set of client capabilities for the client computing
device and
registering, in the client computing device, the set of client capabilities
that has been
discovered with the application marketplace system.
[0002n] The list of applications may be further filtered by evaluating a
corresponding compatibility expression for each one of the list of
applications using
the set of capabilities associated with the client identifier.
[0002o] The method may further involve caching, in the client computing
device, the list of applications that has been filtered and rendering, in the
client
computing device, another user interface configured to present at least one
application from the list of applications that has been cached.
[0002p] The evaluation may be based at least in part upon the client
computing
device being associated with a particular wireless carrier. Individual ones of
the list
of applications may not be compatible when the client computing device is
associated with a wireless carrier other than the particular wireless carrier.
[0002q] The request may further include at least one mutable capability
characteristic of the client computing device.
id
CA 2878207 2017-07-04
[0002r] The at least one mutable capability characteristic may include an
operating system version.
[0002s] The at least one mutable capability characteristic may include a
current
wireless carrier for the client computing device.
[0002t] The user interface may be configured to facilitate an acquisition
of any
of the list of applications for installation on the client computing device.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood
with
reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not
necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating
the
principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference
numerals
designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
le
CA 2878207 2017-07-04
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
[0004] FIG. 1 is a drawing of a networked environment according to various
embodiments of the present disclosure.
[0005] FIG. 2 is a drawing of an example of a user interface rendered by a
client in the networked environment of FIG. 1 according to various embodiments
of the present disclosure.
[0006] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionality
implemented as portions of an application ingestion service executed in a
computing environment of FIG. 1 according to various embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0007] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionality
implemented as portions of an application marketplace system executed in a
computing environment of FIG. 1 according to various embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0008] FIGS. 5 and 6 are flowcharts illustrating examples of functionality
implemented as portions of a compatibility evaluation service executed in a
computing environment of FIG. 1 according to various embodiments of the
present disclosure.
[0009] FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram that provides one example
illustration of a computing environment employed in the networked environment
of FIG. 1 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0010] The present disclosure relates to evaluating application compatibility.
An application marketplace typically includes numerous applications which may
2
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
or may not be compatible with any given device. When a customer browses or
executes a search in an application marketplace, it is desirable to avoid
presenting incompatible applications to the customer. For example, excluding
incompatible applications from a user interface for the application
marketplace
reduces clutter. In addition, excluding incompatible applications prevents a
poor
customer experience resulting from accidental installation or execution of
incompatible applications.
[0011] Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide approaches
to evaluating the compatibility of one or more applications with a client,
which
may be used to filter or exclude incompatible applications from a user
interface
for an application marketplace. To this end, compatibility expressions may be
automatically constructed for an application in response to the application
being
added to the application marketplace. Client capability data for clients may
be
obtained. When the customer browses or searches the application marketplace
for applications to install on a client, the results are filtered to exclude
applications which are incompatible with the client. The filtering is
performed
based at least in part on an evaluation of the compatibility expressions for
the
applications with respect to the client capability data for the client. The
incompatible applications may then be excluded from selection by the customer,
or may even excluded from being surfaced to the customer. In the following
discussion, a general description of the system and its components is
provided,
followed by a discussion of the operation of the same.
[0012] With reference to FIG. 1, shown is a networked environment 100
according to various embodiments. The networked environment 100 includes a
computing environment 103 in data communication with one or more developer
3
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
clients 106 and one or more clients 109 by way of a network 112. The network
112 includes, for example, the Internet, intranets, extranets, wide area
networks
(WANs), local area networks (LANs), wired networks, wireless networks, or
other
suitable networks, etc., or any combination of two or more such networks.
[0013] The computing environment 103 may comprise, for example, a server
computer or any other system providing computing capability. Alternatively, a
plurality of computing devices may be employed in the computing environment
103 that are arranged, for example, in one or more server banks or computer
banks or other arrangements. For example, a plurality of computing devices
together may comprise a cloud computing resource, a grid computing resource,
and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. Such computing devices
may be located in a single installation or may be distributed among many
different geographical locations.
[0014] Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in the
computing environment 103 according to various embodiments. Also, various
data is stored in a data store 115 that is accessible to the computing
environment 103. The data store 115 may be representative of a plurality of
data stores 115 as can be appreciated. The data stored in the data store 115,
for example, is associated with the operation of the various applications
and/or
functional entities described below.
[0015] The components executed on the computing environment 103, for
example, include a developer portal system 118, an application ingestion
service
121, an application marketplace system 124, a compatibility evaluation service
127, and other applications, services, processes, systems, engines, or
4
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
functionality not discussed in detail herein. The developer portal system 118
is
executed to generate user interfaces and perform functionality related to
maintaining the presence of a developer in an application marketplace. A
developer, as used herein, may correspond to a user or business entity
corresponding to a source or distributor of an application 130. The developer
portal system 118 may allow a developer at a developer client 106 to submit or
upload applications 130, establish pricing for applications 130, establish
metadata for applications 130, customize merchandising for the applications
130
in the application marketplace, and/or perform other functions.
[0016] Once a developer provides an application 130 to the developer portal
system 118, the application ingestion service 121 may be executed to add the
application 130 to the application marketplace. The application ingestion
service
121 may perform various tasks relating to configuring the application
marketplace to offer the application 130. For example, the application
ingestion
service 121 may determine various requirements of the application 130 such as
supported operating systems, supported display resolutions or sizes, supported
wireless carriers, processor requirements, memory requirements, and so on.
[0017] The application marketplace system 124 is executed to provide user
interfaces and perform various backend functionality relating to an
application
marketplace. An application marketplace facilitates user acquisition of
applications 130 to be installed on clients 109. The applications 130 may be
provided by many different developers. Such acquisition may include purchases
and downloads, free downloads, trial downloads, upgrades, unlocking, and/or
other types of acquisitions. The application marketplace system 124
facilitates
user searching of available applications 130 and/or browsing of applications
130
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
according to genre, category, title, release date, and so on. The application
marketplace system 124 may perform user authentication and charging of
various payment instruments, such as credit cards, electronic checks, lines of
credit, gift cards, etc. to facilitate electronic payment for applications
130.
[0018] The application marketplace system 124 is configured to obtain
registrations of client capabilities 131 and search requests 132 from clients
109.
In response to search requests 132, the application marketplace system 124 is
configured to return search results 133 to the clients 109 over the network
112.
In some embodiments, the search results 133 may be pre-filtered to exclude
incompatible applications 130. In other embodiments, the search results 133
may be provided to the client 109 for compatibility filtering to be performed
in the
client 109. Although the search results 133 may be generated in response to
search queries, the search results 133 may also be generated in response to
search requests 132 for category listings, popular applications 130 listings,
and/or other predefined or dynamically generated listings of applications 130.
[0019] The application marketplace system 124, the developer portal system
118, or both may comprise commercially available hypertext transfer protocol
(HTTP) server applications such as Apache HTTP Server, Apache Tomcat ,
Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS), and/or other servers. The
application marketplace system 124, the developer portal system 118, or both
may employ HTTP, simple object access protocol (SOAP), representational
state transfer (REST), and/or other networking protocols.
[0020] The compatibility evaluation service 127 is executed to evaluate
whether a particular application 130 is compatible or incompatible with a
6
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
particular set of capabilities for a client 109. To this end, the
compatibility
evaluation service 127 may perform variable substitution into a compatibility
expression 134 generated for a particular application 130. In one embodiment,
the compatibility expression 134 corresponds to a postfix expression which is
evaluated by the compatibility evaluation service 127 using a stack.
[0021] The data stored in the data store 115 includes, for example,
applications 130, application requirements data 136, business rules 139,
compatibility expressions 134, client capabilities data 142 with capability
sets
145 and identifiers 148, application marketplace data 151, customer data 154,
and potentially other data. The applications 130 in the data store 115
correspond to those applications 130 which have been provided by developers
for inclusion in the application marketplace. The applications 130 may
include,
for example, mobile applications, hypertext markup language 5 (HTML5)
applications, desktop applications and/or other applications.
[0022] The application requirements data 136 includes the various
application requirements for each of the applications 130. Such requirements
may include security requirements, feature requirements, and/or other
requirements for the clients 109 to meet before an application 130 may be
downloaded and/or installed onto the clients 109. Such requirements may be
determined from a manifest or other file included in the application 130.
Additionally, such requirements may be ascertained by way of analyzing the
code of the application 130, executing the code of the application 130 and
determining which features are accessed, and/or by other approaches. In some
cases, the requirements may be manually specified by a developer at the
7
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
developer client 106 through a user interface generated by the developer
portal
system 118.
[0023] The business rules 139 may include arbitrary rules that may
determine whether applications 130 are compatible with specific capability
sets
145. For business reasons, either on behalf of the proprietor of the
application
marketplace or the developer, it may be desirable not to offer certain
applications 130 for acquisition and installation on certain clients 109. As a
non-
limiting example, if the proprietor of the application marketplace offers
mapping
applications 130 for certain tablet clients 109, the business rules 139 may
specify that mapping applications 130 from other sources are not compatible
with the tablet clients 109. As another example, a business rule 139 may
specify that certain applications 130 are incompatible with mobile clients 109
associated with wireless carriers other than a particular exclusive wireless
carrier.
[0024] The compatibility expressions 134 may be generated by the
application ingestion service 121 from the application requirements data 136
and the business rules 139 which pertain to an application 130. In one
embodiment, the compatibility expressions 134 correspond to a listing of terms
comprising operands and operators. The operands may include variables and
constants. The operators may include, for example, logical operators,
comparison operators, arithmetic operators, set operators, and so on. In some
cases, an operator may be associated with a predetermined number of
operators, e.g., two operands or another number. The compatibility expressions
134 may be provided in prefix, infix, or postfix notation. In one embodiment,
the
8
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
compatibility expressions 134 may be in postfix notation for stack-based
evaluation.
[0025] The client capabilities data 142 includes data that describes the
capabilities or characteristics associated with various clients 109. Such
capabilities or characteristics may determine whether an application 130 is
compatible with the corresponding clients 109. The client capabilities data
142
includes multiple capability sets 145, where each capability set 145 may
correspond to multiple clients 109 having the same capabilities. Each
capability
set 145 may specify, for example, an operating system version, a wireless
carrier, installed applications 130 and libraries, whether the client 109 has
a
global positioning system (GPS) device, whether the client 109 has a camera,
the processor of the client 109, the memory of the client 109, and so on. Each
capability set 145 is associated with an identifier 148 which identifies the
capability set 145.
[0026] The application marketplace data 151 includes various data
associated with the application marketplace provided by the application
marketplace system 124. For example, the application marketplace data 151
may include pricing information, order information, metadata for applications
130, information pages, category and taxonomy structures, reviews, ratings,
screenshots, and/or other data that may be employed in merchandising
applications 130. The customer data 154 may include various data regarding
users of the application marketplace system 124. Such data may include
security credentials, browsing history, order history, identifiers 148 for
registered
devices, and/or other information.
9
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
[0027] The developer client 106 is representative of a plurality of client
devices operated by developers that may be coupled to the network 112. The
developer client 106 may comprise, for example, a processor-based system
such as a computer system. Such a computer system may be embodied in the
form of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, personal digital assistants,
cellular telephones, smartphones, set-top boxes, music players, web pads,
tablet computer systems, game consoles, electronic book readers, or other
devices with like capability.
[0028] The developer client 106 may be configured to execute various
applications such as a browser and/or other applications. The browser may be
executed in a developer client 106, for example, to access and render network
pages, such as web pages, or other network content served up by the developer
portal system 118 and/or other servers, thereby generating a rendered network
page on a display. The developer client 106 may be configured to execute
applications beyond a browser, such as, for example, mobile applications,
email
applications, instant message applications, and/or other applications.
[0029] The client 109 is representative of a plurality of client devices
operated by customers or prospective customers that may be coupled to the
network 112. The client 109 may comprise, for example, a processor-based
system such as a computer system. Such a computer system may be
embodied in the form of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile
computer, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, smartphones, set-
top
boxes, music players, web pads, tablet computer systems, game consoles,
electronic book readers, or other devices with like capability. The client 109
may
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
include a display 157. The display 157 may comprise, for example, one or more
devices such as liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, gas plasma-based flat
panel displays, LCD projectors, or other types of display devices, etc.
[0030] The client 109 may be configured to execute various applications
such as a client application 160 and/or other applications. The client
application
160 is configured to render a user interface 163 on the display 157 to
facilitate
browsing and searching the application marketplace and purchasing,
downloading, and installing applications 130 from the application marketplace.
In one embodiment, the client application 160 corresponds to a mobile
application for the application marketplace. In another embodiment, the client
application 160 corresponds to a browser employed, for example, to access and
render network pages, such as web pages, or other network content served up
by the application marketplace system 124 and/or other servers. The client 109
may be configured to execute applications beyond client application 160 such
as, for example, mobile applications, email applications, instant message
applications, and/or other applications.
[0031] Next, a general description of the operation of the various
components of the networked environment 100 is provided. To begin, a
developer at a developer client 106 interacts with the developer portal system
118 to submit one or more applications 130 to be included in the application
marketplace. In some cases, multiple versions of an application 130 may be
submitted. Also, as new versions of the application 130 are released, the new
versions may be submitted. The new versions may, for example, coexist with or
replace previous versions. The applications 130 may be uploaded to the
developer portal system 118, or the developer portal system 118 may be
11
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
configured to download the applications 130 from another source. Other
approaches to submission of applications 130 may be employed in other
embodiments.
[0032] The application ingestion service 121 then processes each
application 130 that has been submitted for inclusion in the application
marketplace. To this end, the application ingestion service 121 may determine
the various requirements of the application 130. Such requirements may be
manually specified by the developer and/or automatically determined. For
example, the application ingestion service 121 may launch the application 130
and determine which resources that the application 130 attempts to access.
Alternatively, or additionally, the application ingestion service 121 may
inspect
the code of the application 130 to assess what features, resources, etc. are
used by the application 130. Further, the application ingestion service 121
may
determine requirements based at least in part on a manifest or other
configuration file for the application 130, if present. The application
ingestion
service 121 then creates a compatibility expression 134 for the application
130
from the application requirements data 136 and any applicable business rules
139.
[0033] Separately, customers may establish accounts and/or identities with
the application marketplace system 124. As part of this process, each of the
customers may register one or more clients 109 with the application
marketplace
system 124. A customer may download and install the client application 160 to
facilitate this registration process. Alternatively, where the client
application 160
is a browser, the customer may browse to a network site served up by the
12
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
application marketplace system 124. The network site may then load various
client-executable code onto the browser that performs the registration
process.
[0034] As part of registration, the client application 160 may interrogate the
client 109 to ascertain the various capabilities of the client 109. For
example,
the client application 160 may determine the current operating system version,
software libraries that are installed, whether a GPS device is present,
whether a
camera is present, the current wireless carrier, and/or other characteristics,
features, etc. of the client 109. Although the discussion herein primarily
relates
the capabilities to the client 109 device, the capabilities may additionally
or
alternatively relate to the client application 160. As a non-limiting example,
where the client application 160 is a browser, it may be determined whether
the
client application 160 supports HTML5, what HTML5 features are supported,
and so on.
[0035] The client application 160 then reports the client capabilities 131 to
the application marketplace system 124. After initial registration, the client
application 160 may be configured to interrogate the client 109 and report the
client capabilities 131 periodically (e.g., monthly, bimonthly, etc.), in
response to
a capability change, upon accessing the application marketplace system 124,
and/or at other times. The application marketplace system 124 then matches
the client capabilities 131 with a pre-existing capability set 145, if one
exists. If
one does not exist, the application marketplace system 124 may create a new
capability set 145 in the data store 115 from the client capabilities 131 and
assign a new identifier 148 to it. The identifier 148 associated with the
applicable capability set 145 may then be associated with the client 109 in
the
13
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
customer data 154, stored on the client 109 as a cookie, transferred to the
client
109 for use by the client application 160, or otherwise associated with the
client
109.
[0036] A customer may then access various user interfaces 163 of the
application marketplace through the client application 160. Data may be sent
over the network 112 between the client application 160 and the application
marketplace system 124 to facilitate generating and rendering of the user
interfaces 163. In one embodiment, the user interfaces 163 may correspond to
rendered web pages. In another embodiment, the user interfaces 163 may
correspond to mobile application screens. Through the user interfaces 163, the
customer may browse and/or search through the applications 130 offered by the
application marketplace. The customer may enter a search query and/or access
a user interface 163 configured to present certain applications 130. In doing
so,
the client application 160 may send a search request 132 to the application
marketplace system 124.
[0037] In response, the application marketplace system 124 obtains a list of
applications 130, for example, by executing a search using the search query or
retrieving a predefined list. The applications 130 in the list, although
perhaps
meeting criteria for popularity, freshness, relevance to the search query,
price,
etc., may or may not be compatible with the client 109. According to various
embodiments, filtering is performed to exclude applications 130 (and/or
versions
of applications 130) which are incompatible with the client 109.
[0038] In one embodiment, the filtering is performed server-side by the
application marketplace system 124. To this end, the application marketplace
14
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
system 124 may query the compatibility evaluation service 127 to determine
whether each application 130 in the list of applications 130 is compatible
with
the client 109. Each query may provide an identifier 148 for the capability
set
145 of the client 109, along with a corresponding identifier for the
respective
application 130. Where the queries are transmitted as service calls over a
network, the application marketplace system 124 may be configured to batch the
queries or service calls to minimize the impact of network latency. The
filtered
list of applications 130, or at least a portion thereof, is then sent to the
client 109
by way of the network 112.
[0039] In another embodiment, the filtering is performed client-side by the
client 109. In other words, a list of applications 130 that may include
incompatible applications 130 is sent to the client 109 in the search results
133.
The client application 160 then may make one or more service calls to the
compatibility evaluation service 127 to determine whether each of the
applications 130 is compatible with the client 109. In such service calls, the
client application 160 may pass the identifier 148 (or information that may be
used to determine the identifier 148) along with the corresponding identifier
for
each application 130. The client application 160 may be configured to batch
the
queries or service calls to minimize the impact of network latency. The
results of
the evaluations may be cached in the client 109 in one embodiment.
[0040] When the filtered list of applications 130, or at least a portion
thereof,
is available at the client 109, the client application 160 renders a user
interface
163 presenting one or more applications 130 from the list of applications 130
that are compatible. The user interface 163 may include one or more links or
other user interface components for navigating to detail pages or screens for
the
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
applications 130. Additionally, the user interface 163 may include one or more
links or other user interface components for initiating an acquisition of one
of the
applications 130 (e.g., purchase and download, free download, upgrade of an
existing installation, etc.).
[0041] In some cases, the search request 132 and/or the evaluation queries
to the compatibility evaluation service 127 may provide various mutable
capability characteristics associated with the client 109. For example, in one
embodiment, the stored capability sets 145 may include immutable
characteristics for the client 109, while mutable characteristics may be
supplied
by the client 109 to enable the filtering. Such mutable capability
characteristics
may include, for example, the current operating system version, the current
wireless carrier, and so on.
[0042] Although functionality has been described regarding the capability of
the client 109 initiating the search request 132 for applications 130 to be
installed on the client 109, in other embodiments a search request 132 may
specify an identifier 148 associated with a different client 109. For
instance,
customers may wish to browse mobile applications 130 which are compatible
with their smartphones from their desktop computer. In such a case, customers
may manually identify or select from previously registered devices, thereby
selecting an identifier 148 which differs from that of the client 109 being
used.
[0043] The compatibility evaluation service 127 obtains queries specifying an
identifier of an application 130, an identifier 148 of a capability set 145,
as well
as potentially a version identifier of the application 130 and mutable
capability
characteristics, and performs an evaluation to determine whether the
application
16
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
130 is compatible with the capability set 145. To this end, the compatibility
evaluation service 127 obtains a compatibility expression 134 corresponding to
the application 130 (and version, if applicable) and substitutes variables in
the
compatibility expression 134 according to the values in the capability set 145
(and mutable capability characteristics, if applicable). The compatibility
evaluation service 127 may also perform translation of the compatibility
expression 134 from infix to postfix notation and/or other translations if
applicable. In one embodiment, the compatibility evaluation service 127
evaluates the compatibility expression 134 using a stack. The result of the
evaluation indicates whether the application 130 is compatible or incompatible
with the given capability set 145 (and mutable capability characteristics, if
applicable). The result may be cached in the data store 115 and utilized in
lieu
of a future request to the compatibility evaluation service 127 if desired.
[0044] Turning now to FIG. 2, shown is one example of a user interface 163
rendered by a client application 160 (FIG. 1) executed in the client 109 in
the
networked environment 100 (FIG. 1) according to various embodiments. The
user interface 163 presents a list 203 of applications 130 (FIG. 1) which are
determined to be compatible with the client 109. An identification 206 of the
client 109 describes the client 109 as being a "Galaxo 2000N Smartphone." A
user interface component 209 may be provided to switch the client 109 that is
being evaluated for compatibility. For example, the customer may have
registered a tablet computer previously and may wish to browse on the
smartphone for applications 130 which are compatible with the tablet computer.
[0045] The list 203 includes descriptions 212a, 212b, and 212c of three
applications 130, corresponding respectively to "Instaphoto," "Mean Birds,"
and
17
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
"Map App." In this non-limiting example, a graphic, a component for requesting
more information, and a component for requesting a purchase may be provided
for each description 212. Because the size of the user interface 163 may be
limited, one or more navigation components 215 may be provided to update the
user interface 163 to render descriptions 212 for additional applications 130
in
the list 203.
[0046] Referring next to FIG. 3, shown is a flowchart that provides one
example of the operation of a portion of the application ingestion service 121
according to various embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG.
3
provides merely an example of the many different types of functional
arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of the portion
of the application ingestion service 121 as described herein. As an
alternative,
the flowchart of FIG. 3 may be viewed as depicting an example of steps of a
method implemented in the computing environment 103 (FIG. 1) according to
one or more embodiments.
[0047] Beginning with box 303, the application ingestion service 121 obtains
an application 130 (FIG. 1) from a developer. For example, the developer may
submit the application 130 through the developer portal system 118 (FIG. 1).
In
box 306, the application ingestion service 121 determines the requirements of
the application 130. For example, the application ingestion service 121 may
examine data associated with the application 130 (e.g., a manifest, etc.).
Also,
the application ingestion service 121 may inspect the code of the application
130
or execute the code of the application 130 to determine what features the
application 130 uses. Additionally, the application ingestion service 121 may
obtain requirements that have been manually specified by the developer. The
18
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
application ingestion service 121 may store the requirements in the
application
requirements data 136 (FIG. 1).
[0048] In box 309, the application ingestion service 121 determines business
rules 139 (FIG. 1) which may apply to the application 130. In box 312, the
application ingestion service 121 generates a compatibility expression 134
(FIG.
1) for the application 130. The application ingestion service 121 then stores
the
compatibility expression 134 in the data store 115 (FIG. 1). In box 315, the
application ingestion service 121 adds the application 130 to the application
marketplace, which may involve storing the application 130 in the data store
115, updating the application marketplace data 151 (FIG. 1), registering the
application 130 with the application marketplace system 124 (FIG. 1), and/or
other actions. Thereafter, the portion of the application ingestion service
121
ends.
[0049] Moving on to FIG. 4, shown is a flowchart that provides one example
of the operation of a portion of the application marketplace system 124
according to various embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG.
4
provides merely an example of the many different types of functional
arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of the portion
of the application marketplace system 124 as described herein. As an
alternative, the flowchart of FIG. 4 may be viewed as depicting an example of
steps of a method implemented in the computing environment 103 (FIG. 1)
according to one or more embodiments.
[0050] Beginning with box 403, the application marketplace system 124
obtains client capabilities 131 (FIG. 1) from a client 109 (FIG. 1). In box
406, the
19
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
application marketplace system 124 determines whether a corresponding
capability set 145 (FIG. 1) exists in the data store 115 (FIG. 1). If a
corresponding capability set does not exist, the application marketplace
system
124 moves to box 409 and stores a new capability set 145 corresponding to the
client capabilities 131 in the data store 115. In box 412, the application
marketplace system 124 generates a new identifier 148 (FIG. 1) for the
capability set 145 and associates the identifier 148 with the client 109. To
this
end, the application marketplace system 124 may update the customer data 154
(FIG. 1), send the identifier 148 to the client 109, store the identifier 148
as a
cookie on the client 109, and/or perform other actions. The application
marketplace system 124 then proceeds to box 415.
[0051] If, instead, the application marketplace system 124 determines that
capability set 145 already exists in the data store 115, the application
marketplace system 124 moves from box 406 to box 418 and associates an
identifier 148 of an existing capability set 145 with the client 109. To this
end,
the application marketplace system 124 may update the customer data 154,
send the identifier 148 to the client 109, store the identifier 148 as a
cookie on
the client 109, and/or perform other actions. The application marketplace
system 124 then proceeds to box 415.
[0052] In box 415, the application marketplace system 124 obtains a request
for a list of applications 130 (FIG. 1) from the client 109. For example, the
request may be a search request 132 (FIG. 1), a request for a category
listing,
etc. In box 421, the application marketplace system 124 generates the list of
applications 130. For example, the application marketplace system 124 may
execute a search on the applications 130 to find applications 130 matching
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
search criteria. In box 424, the application marketplace system 124 queries
the
compatibility evaluation service 127 (FIG. 1) to determine whether each of the
applications 130 is compatible with the client 109. In some cases, the
application marketplace system 124 may batch queries together to avoid latency
effects in the communication between the application marketplace system 124
and the compatibility evaluation service 127.
[0053] In box 427, the application marketplace system 124 filters the list of
applications 130 to exclude applications 130 which are determined to be
incompatible. In box 430, the application marketplace system 124 generates
data for a user interface 163 (FIG. 1) to present the filtered list of
applications
130. In box 433, the application marketplace system 124 sends the data for the
user interface 163 to the client 109 over the network 112 (FIG. 1).
Thereafter,
the portion of the application marketplace system 124 ends.
[0054] Continuing on to FIG. 5, shown is a flowchart that provides one
example of the operation of a portion of the compatibility evaluation service
127
according to various embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG.
5
provides merely an example of the many different types of functional
arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of the portion
of the compatibility evaluation service 127 as described herein. As an
alternative, the flowchart of FIG. 5 may be viewed as depicting an example of
steps of a method implemented in the computing environment 103 (FIG. 1)
according to one or more embodiments.
[0055] Beginning with box 503, the compatibility evaluation service 127
obtains a capability set 145 (FIG. 1) corresponding to a client 109 (FIG. 1)
and a
21
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
compatibility expression 134 (FIG. 1) corresponding to an application 130
(FIG.
1). In some cases, the compatibility evaluation service 127 may also obtain a
version identifier for the application 130 to identify the compatibility
expression
134. Further, the compatibility evaluation service 127 may also obtain various
mutable capability characteristics for the client 109 in addition to what is
stored
in the capability set 145.
[0056] In box 506, the compatibility evaluation service 127 translates the
compatibility expression 134 to a postfix expression, if applicable. In box
509,
the compatibility evaluation service 127 substitutes variables in the
compatibility
expression 134 with values from the capability set 145. For example, the
compatibility expression 134 may have a variable "screenSize," and the
capability set 145 may have the attribute-value pair of "screenSize=small."
Thus, the compatibility evaluation service 127 may substitute "screenSize"
with
"small" for purposes of evaluating the compatibility expression 134.
[0057] In box 512, the compatibility evaluation service 127 evaluates the
compatibility expression using a stack, which is described further in
connection
with the flowchart of FIG. 6. In box 515, the compatibility evaluation service
127
returns the result of the evaluation. Thereafter, the portion of the
compatibility
evaluation service 127 ends.
[0058] Turning now to FIG. 6, shown is a flowchart that provides one
example of the operation of another portion of the compatibility evaluation
service 127 according to various embodiments. It is understood that the
flowchart of FIG. 6 provides merely an example of the many different types of
functional arrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of
22
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
the other portion of the compatibility evaluation service 127 as described
herein.
As an alternative, the flowchart of FIG. 6 may be viewed as depicting an
example of steps of a method implemented in the computing environment 103
(FIG. 1) according to one or more embodiments.
[0059] Beginning with box 603, the compatibility evaluation service 127
obtains a term from a compatibility expression 134. In box 606, the
compatibility
evaluation service 127 determines whether the term is an operand. If the
compatibility evaluation service 127 determines that the term is an operand,
the
compatibility evaluation service 127 proceeds to box 609 and pushes the
operand onto the stack. The compatibility evaluation service 127 then
continues
to box 612.
[0060] If, instead, the compatibility evaluation service 127 determines that
the term is not an operand (L e., is an operator), the compatibility
evaluation
service 127 moves from box 606 to box 615 and pops operands off of the stack
according to the operator. For example, the compatibility evaluation service
127
may pop a number of operands off of the stack, where the number may be
determined based at least in part on the operator. In box 618, the
compatibility
evaluation service 127 applies the operator to the operands. For example,
where the operator is "=" and the operands are "6" and "7," the compatibility
evaluation service 127 may evaluate whether "6" equals "7," thereby producing
a
result of false.
[0061] In box 612, the compatibility evaluation service 127 determines
whether the compatibility expression 134 includes more terms. If the
compatibility expression 134 includes more terms, the compatibility evaluation
23
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
service 127 pushes the operator result onto the stack in box 621 and
thereafter
returns to box 603. If the compatibility expression 134 does not include more
terms, the compatibility evaluation service 127 returns the result in box 624.
Thereafter, the portion of the compatibility evaluation service 127 ends.
[0062] With reference to FIG. 7, shown is a schematic block diagram of the
computing environment 103 according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure. The computing environment 103 includes one or more computing
devices 700. Each computing device 700 includes at least one processor
circuit,
for example, having a processor 703 and a memory 706, both of which are
coupled to a local interface 709. To this end, the computing device 700 may
comprise, for example, at least one server computer or like device. The local
interface 709 may comprise, for example, a data bus with an accompanying
address/control bus or other bus structure as can be appreciated.
[0063] Stored in the memory 706 are both data and several components that
are executable by the processor 703. In particular, stored in the memory 706
and executable by the processor 703 are the developer portal system 118, the
application ingestion service 121, the application marketplace system 124, the
compatibility evaluation service 127, and potentially other applications. Also
stored in the memory 706 may be a data store 115 and other data. In addition,
an operating system may be stored in the memory 706 and executable by the
processor 703.
[0064] It is understood that there may be other applications that are stored
in
the memory 706 and are executable by the processor 703 as can be
appreciated. Where any component discussed herein is implemented in the
24
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
form of software, any one of a number of programming languages may be
employed such as, for example, C, C++, C#, Objective C, Java , JavaScript ,
Pert, PHP, Visual Basic , Python , Ruby, Delphi , Flash , or other programming
languages.
[0065] A number of software components are stored in the memory 706 and
are executable by the processor 703. In this respect, the term "executable"
means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by the
processor
703. Examples of executable programs may be, for example, a compiled
program that can be translated into machine code in a format that can be
loaded
into a random access portion of the memory 706 and run by the processor 703,
source code that may be expressed in proper format such as object code that is
capable of being loaded into a random access portion of the memory 706 and
executed by the processor 703, or source code that may be interpreted by
another executable program to generate instructions in a random access portion
of the memory 706 to be executed by the processor 703, etc. An executable
program may be stored in any portion or component of the memory 706
including, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory
(ROM), hard drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical
disc
such as compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk,
magnetic
tape, or other memory components.
[0066] The memory 706 is defined herein as including both volatile and
nonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components are
those that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatile
components are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, the memory
706 may comprise, for example, random access memory (RAM), read-only
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, memory
cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disks accessed via an
associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed via an optical disc
drive,
magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tape drive, and/or other memory
components, or a combination of any two or more of these memory
components. In addition, the RAM may comprise, for example, static random
access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic
random access memory (MRAM) and other such devices. The ROM may
comprise, for example, a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an
erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other like memory device.
[0067] Also, the processor 703 may represent multiple processors 703 and
the memory 706 may represent multiple memories 706 that operate in parallel
processing circuits, respectively. In such a case, the local interface 709 may
be
an appropriate network that facilitates communication between any two of the
multiple processors 703, between any processor 703 and any of the memories
706, or between any two of the memories 706, etc. The local interface 709 may
comprise additional systems designed to coordinate this communication,
including, for example, performing load balancing. The processor 703 may be of
electrical or of some other available construction.
[0068] Although the developer portal system 118, the application ingestion
service 121, the application marketplace system 124, the compatibility
evaluation service 127, the client application 160 (FIG. 1), and other various
systems described herein may be embodied in software or code executed by
general purpose hardware as discussed above, as an alternative the same may
26
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
also be embodied in dedicated hardware or a combination of software/general
purpose hardware and dedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated hardware,
each can be implemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of
or a combination of a number of technologies. These technologies may include,
but are not limited to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates for
implementing
various logic functions upon an application of one or more data signals,
application specific integrated circuits having appropriate logic gates, or
other
components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known by those skilled
in the art and, consequently, are not described in detail herein.
[0069] The flowcharts of FIGS. 3-6 show the functionality and operation of
an implementation of portions of the application ingestion service 121, the
application marketplace system 124, and the compatibility evaluation service
127. If embodied in software, each block may represent a module, segment, or
portion of code that comprises program instructions to implement the specified
logical function(s). The program instructions may be embodied in the form of
source code that comprises human-readable statements written in a
programming language or machine code that comprises numerical instructions
recognizable by a suitable execution system such as a processor 703 in a
computer system or other system. The machine code may be converted from
the source code, etc. If embodied in hardware, each block may represent a
circuit or a number of interconnected circuits to implement the specified
logical
function(s).
[0070] Although the flowcharts of FIGS. 3-6 show a specific order of
execution, it is understood that the order of execution may differ from that
which
27
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
is depicted. For example, the order of execution of two or more blocks may be
scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shown in
succession in FIGS. 3-6 may be executed concurrently or with partial
concurrence. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the blocks shown
in FIGS. 3-6 may be skipped or omitted. In addition, any number of counters,
state variables, warning semaphores, or messages might be added to the logical
flow described herein, for purposes of enhanced utility, accounting,
performance
measurement, or providing troubleshooting aids, etc. It is understood that all
such variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.
[0071] Also, any logic or application described herein, including the
developer portal system 118, the application ingestion service 121, the
application marketplace system 124, the compatibility evaluation service 127,
and the client application 160, that comprises software or code can be
embodied
in any non-transitory computer-readable medium for use by or in connection
with
an instruction execution system such as, for example, a processor 703 in a
computer system or other system. In this sense, the logic may comprise, for
example, statements including instructions and declarations that can be
fetched
from the computer-readable medium and executed by the instruction execution
system. In the context of the present disclosure, a "computer-readable medium"
can be any medium that can contain, store, or maintain the logic or
application
described herein for use by or in connection with the instruction execution
system.
[0072] The computer-readable medium can comprise any one of many
physical media such as, for example, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor
media. More specific examples of a suitable computer-readable medium would
28
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
include, but are not limited to, magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes,
magnetic hard drives, memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flash drives, or
optical discs. Also, the computer-readable medium may be a random access
memory (RAM) including, for example, static random access memory (SRAM)
and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magnetic random access
memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable medium may be a read-
only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable
programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memory device.
[0073] The above comprises at least the following exemplary clauses;
[0074] 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program
executable in a computing device, comprising: code that obtains a mobile
application from a developer; code that automatically determines a plurality
of
application requirements for the mobile application; code that generates a
compatibility expression from the application requirements; code that obtains
a
set of capabilities associated with a mobile device; code that performs an
evaluation of the compatibility expression based at least in part on the set
of
capabilities to produce an evaluation result; code that determines whether the
mobile application is compatible with the mobile device according to the
evaluation result; and code that generates a user interface that facilitates
an
acquisition of the mobile application by a user for installation on the mobile
device.
[0075] 2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 1, further
comprising code that caches the evaluation result.
29
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
[0076] 3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 1,
wherein the compatibility expression is a postfix expression, and the code
that
performs the evaluation is configured to perform the evaluation using a stack.
[0077] 4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 1, further
comprising: code that obtains a capability set identifier from the mobile
device;
and wherein the code that obtains the set of capabilities is configured to
load the
set of capabilities from a data store according to the capability set
identifier.
[0078] 5. A system, comprising: at least one computing device; and at least
one application executable in the at least one computing device, the at least
one
application comprising: logic that determines a set of applications; logic
that
filters the set of applications to exclude applications that are incompatible
with a
particular client, the logic that filters being configured to: determine a
capability
set for the particular client; obtain a corresponding compatibility expression
for
each one of the set of applications; and perform an evaluation of the
corresponding compatibility expression using the capability set to determine
whether each one of the set of applications is compatible with the particular
client; and logic that returns the set of applications that has been filtered.
[0079] 6. The system of clause 5, wherein the at least one application
further comprise logic that generates a user interface that facilitates a
purchase
of any of the set of applications that has been filtered, the applications
that are
incompatible with the particular client being excluded from selection through
the
user interface.
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
[0080] 7. The system of clause 6, wherein the applications that are
incompatible with the particular client are excluded from being surfaced in
the
user interface.
[0081] 8. The system of clause 5, wherein the set of applications
corresponds to a set of mobile applications, and the client corresponds to a
mobile device.
[0082] 9. The system of clause 5, wherein the at least one application
further comprises: logic that obtains a developer-provided application; logic
that
automatically determines a plurality of application requirements for the
developer-provided application; logic that automatically generates the
corresponding compatibility expression for the developer-provided application
based at least in part on the application requirements; and logic that stores
the
corresponding compatibility expression in association with the developer-
provided application.
[0083] 10. The system of clause 9, wherein the logic that automatically
generates the corresponding compatibility expression is configured to generate
the corresponding compatibility expression based at least in part on a
plurality of
business rules.
[0084] 11. The system of clause 5, wherein the logic that filters is
configured to send a batch of evaluation requests to a compatibility
evaluation
service over a network, the compatibility evaluation service being configured
to
perform the evaluation, each of the evaluation requests specifying a
corresponding identifier for a respective one of the set of applications and
an
identifier for the capability set.
31
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
[0085] 12. The system of clause 11, wherein the at least one
application further comprises: logic that caches a plurality of responses to
the
batch of evaluation requests obtained from the compatibility evaluation
service
by way of the network; and wherein the logic that filters is further
configured to
utilize at least one of the responses that have been cached for another
evaluation in lieu of sending a request to the compatibility evaluation
service.
[0086] 13. The system of clause 5, wherein the at least one application
further comprises: logic that obtains the capability set from the particular
client;
logic that determines whether the capability set matches any stored capability
set in a data store; logic that stores the capability set in the data store in
response to determining that the capability set does not match any stored
capability set in the data store; and logic that associates an identifier of
the
capability set with the particular client.
[0087] 14. The system of clause 5, wherein the at least one application
further comprises logic that obtains a search query from a user, and the logic
that determines the set of applications is configured to determine the set of
applications based at least in part on executing the search query.
[0088] 15. The system of clause 5, wherein the evaluation includes
substituting a respective constant from the capability set for each of a
plurality of
operand variables in each corresponding compatibility expression.
[0089] 16. The system of clause 5, wherein the corresponding
compatibility expression is a posffix expression comprising a plurality of
terms,
and the logic that filters is configured to evaluate the postfix expression
using a
stack.
32
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
[0090] 17. The system of clause 16, wherein the evaluation of the
corresponding compatibility expression comprises: for each one of the terms in
the postfix expression: determine whether the one of the terms is an operator
or
an operand; pushing the operand onto the stack in response to determining that
the one of the terms is an operand; popping a number of operands from the
stack in response to determining that the one of the terms is an operator;
generating a result by applying the operator to the number of operands; and
pushing the result onto the stack.
[0091] 18. A method, comprising the steps of: sending, in a client
computing device, a request for a list of applications to an application
marketplace system, the request including an client identifier, the client
identifier
being associated with a set of client capabilities registered with the
application
marketplace system; obtaining, in the client computing device, a list of
applications from the application marketplace system, the list of applications
being filtered to exclude applications which are incompatible with the set of
client
capabilities; and rendering, in the client computing device, a user interface
configured to present the list of applications that has been filtered.
[0092] 19. The method of clause 18, wherein the request further
includes at least one mutable capability characteristic of the client
computing
device.
[0093] 20. The method of clause 19, wherein the at least one mutable
capability characteristic includes an operating system version.
33
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
[0094] 21. The method of clause 19, wherein the at least one mutable
capability characteristic includes a current wireless carrier for the client
computing device.
[0095] 22. The method of clause 18, further comprising the steps of:
periodically discovering, in the client computing device, the set of client
capabilities for the client computing device; and registering, in the client
computing device, the set of client capabilities that has been discovered with
the
application marketplace system.
[0096] 23. The method of clause 18, wherein the user interface is
configured to facilitate an acquisition of any of the list of applications for
installation on the client computing device.
[0097] 24. The method of clause 18, wherein the list of applications is
filtered by evaluating a corresponding compatibility expression for each one
of
the list of applications using the set of capabilities associated with the
client
identifier.
[0098] 25. The method of clause 18, wherein the request includes a
search query that, when executed in the application marketplace system,
produces the list of applications.
[0099] 26. The method of clause 18, further comprising the steps of:
[00100] caching, in the client computing device, the list of applications that
has been filtered; and rendering, in the client computing device, another user
interface configured to present at least one application from the list of
applications that has been cached.
34
CA 02878207 2019-12-30
WO 2014/008152
PCT/US2013/048852
(00101] It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of
the present disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations set
forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many
variations and modifications may be made to the above-described
embodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles
of
the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be
included
herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following
claims.
